The Sun. — London, England, 1809-12-07 00:00:00

r UMV±,RSITY OF OXFORD. A SECON n. L RTTER TO THE MEMBERS CF CONV'CICA• TION, FROM AN INDEPENDENT MASTER OF ARTS. OXFORD, DECEMBER 6. Mr. EDITOR—In my letter, inserted a few days Sh , Ce in your Paper, I raqueated the attention of the Members of Convocation, to the remonstrances of the University against the dothines of Lord GnEN- Lee. It appeared evident from them, that he and we were completely the antipodes of each other. That when we thought it our duty to travel one road, his Lordship took another, and dire&ly.the opposite.— My chief reason for the publication of that letter was, beeause I was satisfied, as I still am, that Many hundreds of our absentee Members were not fully informed of these proceedings. They are now brought under notice, and their weight will be justly appreciated. It will be remembered, that a non placet has been three times expressed against the principles of Lorda . GßarsarteeE, by three solemn and unanimat.s• votes, passed in the Public Convocation House - of the University,— Whoever thinks of tlis will pause a few mi nutes, and must feel himself tinder the urgency of .nothing short `` of immediate and uncontroulable ne cessity" (such are Lord GRENVILLE'S Words), if he can be induced to enter the walls of the same Con vocation Hoese, and declare that man deserving of the confidence of the University, against whom such resolutions are recorded. What has his Lordship clam:- to redeem himself, and work out the reversal of this academical attainder ? He refused to give the' KING a pledge not to renew the Catholic Ques tion. Has he given us that pledge ? No, for 1 here publicly assert, that his - letter to the . Principal of Brazen Nose most positively refuses it.' What is his Lordship's merit then at this moment ? That of stubborn inflexibility ; a whimsical reason this for our submission. After giving you this caution not to surrender your consistency and eharader" to the GRENVILLITES, let me intreat you next to take care lest they seize and run away with your privileges. I will explain ss hat I mean. I rather think that many of u are not quite apprised of the powers belonging to the office a our Chancellor.. I have not time to examine into all of them ; but I will sided one as a specimen :—Our Chancellor, be it recol lected, is the Keeper of our Seal, the right of pos session and dominion ever which belongs exclusively and solely to him, though he may delegate its use if he pleases. Should Lord GRENVILLE be raised to this office, only consider how the privilege of ad dressing and petitioning will be effetded. Do you suppose his Lordship will allow the Seal to be affixed to a petition dire6tly and personally levelled against himself i Ne, no, will his Lordship say, you have petitioned enough already„ and until you under stand good bceedirg better, and are brought a little more to your senses, I shall lock up the Seals in my strong box at Baconnocls. In the mean time, what becomes of this privilege of thinking and speak ing ? Are yon certain you can get the better of his Lordship ? Be not too confident of, this. But if relief may be bad, how is it to be got at? Through the medium of a struggle with your own Chancellor in Westminster-Halt ; a law suit, to rescue from violence that first article in the Academical Biil of Peghts, the right of declaring your sentiments; a process against the Keeper of the Conscience of the Univerity for running with away it. Will yoy, de deliver your Seals, then, to Laid Ga aNvl Lea, for the purpose only of disarming yonrselt of your only weapon of defence against his attacks ? If you can do this, oh lepiclos homines, your under-graduates will applaud his Lordship for thus plucking you. I shall proceed now to the examination of a point of infinite importance to the interests of the Univer shy, namely, what would in reality be theeffea of Lord GRENVILLE'S system, and the operation of the repeal of the Catholic Test lms,' so far as the Uni versity is concerned, for the discussion of this mea sure in till its bearings would require 20 letters in stead of one. Let us look, therefore, at its peculiar bearing on ou.selves. You are aware that at pro eut !he principal barriers which prevent the admis ion of Cstholica into employments under Govern ment are, the sacramental test, and the oath of ab juration ; these, with all others of the same nature, Lord GB.ENVILLE proposes to abolish, and is the place of them to substitute an oath or protes tation, worded according to the taste of the Catho lics, w filth in substance is supposed to be a renun ciation of the temporal power of the See of Rome in this-country. Upon this new qualification the Ca tho'ies are to be equalized with the members of the Established Church, in admissibility to the le gislative, as well . as to every civil, military, and execothe function whatever. You are also well aware that at present the two barriers, and the only two, whk h , by local Statutes of the University, stand in the way of Catholics, are the same oath of abjuration, .and the subscription to the Thirty- Nine Articles. Now I will ask any man, whether he can possibly believe that these religious tests and qualifications can be kept on foot in the University, when the very same, and all others of a similar import, have been soppressed and abolished in every department of the State ? Will Lord GREN VILLE allow the Catholics to be pricked and teazed by these briars and thorns at Oxford which he has cut up root and breech in teary other part of the King's dominions ? Do you really think, that after hip Lordship has taken down the doors of all the Courts ( I Just ice, of the Horse Guards, the Admi ralty, the Parliatnetit Huuse, the Council Chamber, and the Onset of the Sovereign, for the intro duetion of Papists, that the University alone will be indalged with their exclusion ? . When this pnb- Ife Equal:z•aion Law has passed, your College gates will tremble from their r'osty, crazy hinges with a sin_ le kick. The Ca!laolics will not take the trouble . of icksag the lock, though in the Reign of JAMES IL they were not inexeert at that work, as we- recol , leo, tin get possession of the cloysters at falaa s ialeu C ',lege. I assert it then to he a consequence directly aed necessarily flowing from Lord GRENVILLE'S , erlualiziog principle, that Catholic Layreee will obtain a right of matriculation in tee Univer sity. How can it be refused to them by Lord GR ENVI LLE, consistently with his own bypothe &3? But if it should, will they put up with a refusal ? No, they will read to his Lordship his own piutest, and possibly they may throw it in his face, a$ r voucher to prove that whatever they demand they must have. If the public law is tacritrced to their wishes, will the private law remain unaitseed ? If the Const;tutioe of the State - itself is new modelled bcceuse they require it, is it to be ; imagined that their modesty, delicacy, or forbeer eace, will abstain from insisting that the neinicipal Constitution of the University should be surrendered to them also ? Very short-lived indeed will be the Lex Loci of the tiniversity when every public law which a papist objects to shall have been erased by Lord GRENVILLE from the 'Statute Book. The Members of the Catholic Comtnenion may, from that moment, without difficulty, beUnder Graduates, Fellows, and Heads of Colleges, Tutors, Profes sors, and Magistrates of the University; nay, a Catholic might - even become our Chancellor : for if my supposition of fact be true, that reli gious Tests will vanish at Oxford, as I say they must do, as soon as Lord GRENVILLE has put an extinguisher upon them in every other quar ter of the Empire, my deduction is indisputable, that every place and preferment in the University ten able by a Layman will instantly become accessible 1 to the Lay Catholic -as well as to the Lay Proles taut ; for nothing as I have before !hewn - impedes the matriculation of Catholics, except those religi ous tests, which, for all civil purposes, and in all : other places throughout the whole Empire, are to be superseded by Lord' GRF.NVILLE'S system. I have spoken only of the Lay or Civil branch of the Uni versity, that is, cif those who are not bound to take Orders by the Statutes of the different Colleges : all these, I say, might be Papists : a pretty con siderable linib of the whole. Ido not stop here to ask how the clerical branch of it will stand its ground, " paries cum prozimus ardet." Whether Lord GRENVILLE has thought of these things I know not, but . if he has, they may be precisely what he wishes; he may think perhaps, that the reforma tion itself is become obsolete, and ought, like an old worn-out servant, to be put upon the super- , annuated liSt, in order to make way for some fresh hands now out of employ, but likely to be a little more bustling and active. We must pre pare ourselves for something splendid ; for . Lord GREUVILLE told the House of Lords, " that the force of reason, like the rays of the sun, was breaking out upon them." I do indeed expect from his- Lordship something very resplendent, and so ought the University too : I can imagine the illumination which is to issue forth, and beans upon us from all the pores of his threatened Ca tholic Bill ; and I have (I admit but very feebly) en- ' deavoured to describe some few of its rays ; but I de clare that I dread the coming of this solstice of lus tre : - 1 khOW that it will bring heat witty it; as well as light, and I am alarmed . for myself and the whole University, lest it be too much for us, and affeet us ' like • a coup de soleil. ``then I observe the extraor dinary confidence of Lord GRENVILLE, and when I hear him treat as visionary those apprehensions which till the present moment have been deemed well founded.,what have I for my security but his spe culation ? One of his Lordship's theories is, that the Catholic few cannot injure the Protestant many ; that their strength is insufficient, though their de signs were mischievous : he ridicules the idea of numbers being over-ruled, and supposes that the mass of a people may repose with safety mole sua. To this maxim of Lord GRENVILLE I shall oppose the wisdom of our illustrious CLA II EN DON, for whose chair his Lordship is so vehemently struggling.— I am told by that great man, an eye-witness to the troubles of former times, that the disasters which he relates were not produced by a ge- • neral combination and universal apostacy lh the whole nation irons their religion and allegiance. I learn from him that a country may be overthrown, from causes limited and partial, against the real voi:e of the people, and the preponderancy of mere nuo bers. Lord GRENVILLE tells us, that we want to protection from the Catholics, no bolts or bars, to boundaries or separations between us; that we have nothing more to do, when his -Catholic Bill las passed, than to go to bed. without a safeguard, in this same security as our forefathers did with it, re posing in the consciousness of our own innocenct but the Noble Historian, who has better explored the springs of public mischief arldisturbance, iie structs us that one main source of the commotion, he saw was, the "permitting the innocent to be " possessed with laziness and sleep in the most visisle " article of danger." Against this lethargy,l,l for one will keep my eyes very open. In the election of Lord GRENVILLE to be our Chancellor, pod Deus auertat, 1 can discern the buds of fhture mis fortune to the University, and every branch of our existing establishments. As ter as I can, therefore, I will resist the GRENVILLITES ; for it is the -Cies . viction of my mind, that if the University oncO'sub nuits to the dominion of GRENVILLISM, the day is not far distant when it must stoop the head under the yoke, of Catholicism. From the LONDON GAZETTE, Dec. 5. Ordaance..office, Dec. 4, rgog, Royal Regiment of Artillery. Major Charles Waller to be Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Unett, retired. Captain Alexander Duncan to be Major, vice Waller. Second C:ptani Henry Stone to be Captain, vice Duncan. First Lieutenant Samuel Scriven to be Second Captain, vice Stone. Second Lieutenant I ohn Spiller to be First Lieutenant, vice Scriyeil Second Lieutenant George B. Willis to be First Lieutenant, vice Grattan', resigned. Commissions in the Tower Hamlets Militia, signed by the Lord Lieutenant. To be Captain—Lieutenant Thomas O'Key, from the lid Re giment, vice Edwards, resigned. TV be Ens►gn—Forbes Robinson, Cent.' 2d Royal Regiment. To be Lieutenant—Lieutenant John Orange, from the Ist Regiment. I o be Ditto—Lieutenant John King, from the Lincolnshire vice•O'Key, promoted. To ue Ensign— I. L. Stretch, Gent, vice Mead, appointed to the 2(.1 F oot. To be Ditto—George Card, Gent. vice Little, appointed to the 45th Foot. Commissions signed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Carmarthen. To be Second Lieutenant in the Ist Regiment Royal Car marthen Fuzileer Loi.al Militia— lohn Urifliths, (ienf. BA:\KR:„PiS Samuel Singer, of %ilesibbry, Wiltshire, :clothier, to sur.en,i,r i)ec. IS, 19, lan. 16, at eleven, at the Angel . m u, W.oininster. Aiturnies, Mebsrs. Davies and Davis, Vidiit,,ster ; or Mr. Davis, Luthbury, London. ' ut St. Mary-Axe, Lund .n, merelrant, , Dec. 9, [2, alai lan. IN at one, at Guildhall. Attorney, air. Weld, jun. Castle-stieet, Falcon-square. Andrew ltedpath, of riulip.lane, Lear AlUcrmanbury, Lon• dor. and White Horse-street, Stepney, Mildlesex, vie tuaMer, Dec. r 2, 23, and . lan. 16, at ten, at Guildhall. Attornies, Nlessrs. Palmer, Tomliasons and Thomson,. Cupthall-court, Thrognnotton-street. Thomas King, late of Gosport, 'grocer, Dec. at, at one, 22, at eleven, and lan. t 6, at twelve, at the Crown Inn, Gos port. tummies, Messrs. Bleasdale, Alexander, and' Holme, New-Inn, London; or Mr. .Paadon, Fare ham, Hants. Richard Wooligar, late of West' Cowes, Isle of Wight, smith, Dec. is, at one, t 6, at eleven, and lan. 16, at one, at the Crown Inn, Gosport. AIIOTIIieS, Mr. Thomas AndreAs Minchin, Gosport ; or Mr. Tarrant, Chancery lane, London. William Kirkpatrick and Richard Cort, of Bread-street, Cheapside, London, warehousemen, Dec. 12 26, and lan. 26, at ten, at Guildhall. At tonnes, Mr. I'. Hurdjemple, London; or Mr. Hewitt, Manchester. Thomas Russell, of Dursley, Gloucestershire, innkeeper, Dec. 20, at five, 21, and lan. a 6, at eleven, at the Old Bell Inn, Dursley. Attoraies, Mr. Bloxsome, Dursley; -or Messrs. Price and Williams, Lincoln's-Inn, London. John Dodgson, of Pocklington, Yorkshire, corn-fattor, Dec. 28, 29, and lan. 16, at eleven, at the George inn, York, A tturnics ' Mr. Evans, Hatton-Garden, London ; or Mr. Holmes, Pocklington. Rignell Lye, late of Goswell.street.road, Middlesex, builder and plarsterer, Dec. 16, 23, and Jan. 16, at twelve, at Gun/Mall. Attorney, Mr. Charstey, Mark-lane. • Nicholas Wikox Cundy, of Great Marlborough-street, near Oxtbrd-street, Middlesex, surveyor, Dee. 9, 16, and jan., i 6, at eleven, at Guildhall. Attorney, Mr. Trickey, Howland-street, Fitzroy-square. Isaac Satrertlissaite, of Tamworth, Warwickshire, wine and spirit-merchant, Dec, 9, t 6, and lan. lb, at ten, at Guild. hall, London. Attorney, Mr. Dawes, AnAel-court,,Tbrog morton-street, London. John Frodsham, of Kingsgate-street, Middlesex, watch. maker, Dec. 16, 23, and Jan. 16, at twelve, at Guildhall. Attorney, Mr. George Davies, Warwick-street, Golden -*- square. • DIP IDENDS. Dec. 26. Edward Crosley, of Liverpool, merchant, at ele ven, at the Globe Tavern, Liverpool. Feb. 3. lames Roxburgh, late of Winchester-street, London, Insurance-broker, at ten, at Guildhall. Dec. 23. Andrew Watson, of vo atworth, Surrey, corn chandler, at eleven, at duildhalf. Dec. 19. 'Edward Whitmore Windle, of Rotherhithe-street, Sr. Mary, ktotherhithe, Surrey, ironmonger, • at ten, at Guildhall. Dec. 9. James Tig well, of Gosport, linen-draper, at ten, at Guildhall, London. Dec. 19. Arthur Lewis, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, mercer and linen-draper, at twelve, at Guildhall, London. Dec. 30. Joseph Johnson and John Statham, of Twickett's Mills, Northamptonshire, and Thomas Johnson, of Hyde -street, Bloomsbury, Middlesex, millers, at ten, at Guildhall, London. an. 20. Charles Bristow, of Newgate-street, London, linen draper, at-twelve, at duildhall. Dec. 29. John Sunderland, of Lower Busker, Yorkshire, corn-dealer, at eleven, at the White Hart, Inn, Wake field, Yorkshire. Dec. 26. John Cotton, of Coventry, builder, at eleven, at the King's Head Inn, Coventry. ,Dec. 26. Edward Harris, of Gulston-square, Whitechapel, Middlesex, stationer, at ten, at Guildhall. 'Dec. 9. George Grimes, of Great Warner-street, Cold-bath fields, Middlesex, linen-draper, at eleven, at Guildhall. Dec. 25. lobo Seagoe, of Duke-street, St. James's, Middle sex, tailor, at eleven, at Guildhall. Dec. 26. Peter Stuart, of Fleet-street, London, printer,-at ten, at Guildhall. Dec. 7. Patrick Hunter, of Bristol, merchant, at eleven, at the White Lion, Bristol. Dec. 7. Dirk Jean ,Vander Hoeven, of Bury-court, St. Mary-Axe, London merchant, at ten, at Guildhall. Jec. 26. Thomas Griffiths, late of Fort-street, Spitalfieldsi Nliddlesex, silk-weaver, at ten, at Guildhall. Dec. 9. Charles Caroms, of Holborn, Middleiex, trunk maker, at twelve, at Guildhall. lan. t. james Bourn; 'tacit Lancaster, and David Davis, of Lancaster, merchants, at eleven, at the king's Arms, Lancaster. Dec 26. Charles Stokes Dudley, of Gracechurch-street, London, merchant, at ten, at Guildhall. CERTIFICATES. Dec. z 6. William Fernihough, of Manchester,calico-printer. Thomas Turner, of Liverpool, cheesemonger. Cole, late of Gosport, wine merchant.. Robert Silvester, now or late of Reading, lierks, timber.. merchant. Wm. Furber and Robert Furber, of Hanham, Gloucester shire, and John Furber, of Bath, tallow-chanctiers. Harry Hale and Harry Hag6ard Hale, ut Lan don, of i wen. Thomas Draper, of the City-road, Shoreditch, Middlesex, JUi6e()lk and al;otheCary. James 13a.15, late of burtop.milis, SutiOlk, carrier. MM LS. Ana Iv sp—l Dublin, 2 Waterton'. DUE-- , 2 Gottenbufgh, I Lisbon, I Lacliz, i Wat‘rforcl. PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT TWiLVE O'CLOCK. Consols for Opening 7o Red. Ann. - 69 I-1 i, SUN. ----- _ SOLLM QUIS DICIAL ?AI-SUM AUDLAT t L 0 N D 0 N, THURSDAY ) DECEMBIR 7, 1809• The Lion man. of war arrived in the Downs yes terday with the. Bombay ; she sailed from Bombay on the 15th of June; the Lord Castlereagh and Upton Castle country ships; sailed from Bombay on the 27th of July. _ _ The Marley, -from China, parted on Monday last i❑ a gale of wind, and then very leaky ; they left St. Helena on the I ith of Oftober. Accounts are said to be received at Bombay, that of four East-India ships that had sailed from Bengal, two were taken, one lost in Bengal river, and one arrived at Prince of Wales Island. (ANOTHER ACCOUNT.) The Bombay, Lord Castlereagh, and Upton Castle, East India ships, have arrived in the Downs they sailed from Bombay the 27th July, and from St. He lena the I ith of Oaober. The Lord Castlereagh brings an account of four Indiamen being attacked in the Bay of Bengal, two of them are taken, one driven on shore, and the other escaped ; names un known. The two captured ships are carried into the Isle of France by the Caroline French frigate. It was yesterday reported that accounts had been received from Spain, of an insurrection having taken place in Seville, and of the imprisonment of several Members of the Junta. The fa6l is, that some of the Members of the Junta have been suspe6led of conspiracy against' the Government, and have been taken up. Among others, we are sorry to find M. PALLAFOX, brother to the gallant defender of S a gossa. We are not in possession of the de;ails of this affair. The milaary intelligence troni Spain, conti-iies to be most favourable. The Si alinds are a 1 , ancing towards their capita.; no' hog. - ever, improbable, that the Flatlet) may riKue a vie. neral action to save Madrid, but from A - ng Jost PII'S flight, it would seem as if they were not very confi dent of success. The following is an extract of a letter received from Seville : " Seville, Nov. 18. " I have this moment been informed of the following im portant circurnstance,on the truth of which you may depend• —The 'greatest confusion prevails in this city. Pit LA f the brother of the heroic defender of Saragossa, has been put under arrest. A French Officer of distinction has been de teded here in disguise. A summary vengeance was infi ided upon him by the people, who strangled him in their rage." In the Court of King's Bench this .rnorning, the Indi6tment against the Duke of Goßpon for an as sault,with an intent to commit a rape on Sara hWaith, came on to be tried,but as there was no evidence of fered on the part of the prosecution, the Defendant was acquitted. The Address which was yesterday proposed at the Common Council was such as might naturally have been expelled from such a quarter—it is via. lent and inconsistent. It would be, we are well aware, a waste of words to attetiipt to reason with such a man as Mr. WAITHMAN, but we would ask any impartial man, whether it be consistent with common decency or with common sense to address his MAJESTY upon an Expedition, to apply to it every epithet of abuse, and then to ask his MA' JESTY to inst►tute an Inquiry, whether it dcsenCS those epithets or not ; whether it be consistent with common decency, or with common sen,e, that_ a public body should pronounce a solemn deci,ion upon a pubic question, ltd then ask Parliament to investigate it. This eagerness to have the opinion of Parliament upon it, appears a little singular, when " we recoiled the language which was applied to the House of. Commons, in consequence of its decision on the case of the Duke of YORK. But the fad is, the Modern.Refortners have got one short compere' dious mode of settling these points. Whenever Parliament happens to ad in conformity with their wishes, then it is the fair organ of public opinion ; but, when it decides contrary to their then it is not the organ of public opinion, i t is corrupt, &c. '&c. This is a very easy mode of proceeding, but we should suppose that there are not many people likely to be convinced by it. The ciuestion of the Expedition to Walcheren, will, of course, be discussed in Parliament, and would have been, even if Mr. WAITHMAN had not thought pro per to withdraw his attention from his shop in order to watch over the welfare of the State. As to the request to his MAJESTY to, assemble Parliamen t ' ir is only necessary to observe, that this request is ma d e just one tortnight,after the Proclamation for cote. ♦ cuin g it wfts issued. The Marquis WELLESLEY yesterday, in opposi tion to the earnest advice, and in spite of the re peated predi&ions of the Opposition Writers, rece ived the Seals of Office as Secretary of State for the' Foreign Department. His Lordship may now, there fore exped to come in for his full share of all that vulgar scurrility which is daily lavished upon his Majesty's Ministers. It is curious to observe the 'various changes which have taken place in the lan guage of the Opposition Writers on the subje6l of the Marquis WELLESLEY. At first they boldly' asserted that there Was no probability that the Nl 3 " gals would take a part in the present , Administratiol l —that he held the Members of it in general C°" tempt, &c. bre. The accounts from Spain soon proved the falsehood of these assertions, and as s oon as it was found that the Marquis entertained ePi mons that were decidedly hostile to the party that are struggling so hard to get into power, it was de' - "ermined, without loss of time, to attack his princi. ples, and to decry hiS talents, without any r eg ard to the feelings of his friend Lord GRENVILLE, o r to the high opinions which his Lordship has 5 0 frequently expressed of the superior abilities of the Marquis WELLESLEY. . But it happened tha t His MAJESTY did not come to town on Wednes" day week, of course the Marquis could not 1 -6 " ceive the Seals of Office. Upon this simple fa% and without any other information upon the sub' jed, the Opposition Writers boldly told th e Puhlic that the Marquis had, since his.return cc ) England, seen reason to alter his opinion, and tha t he had declined accepting the office. This bold as' sertion, equally true with all their former ones, hav ing fallen to the ground, the business of abuse' of course, will be taken up again with re' doubled vigour. We are, we confess, a little pui" Med to know how the different parties, of whic h the Opposition is composed, happen to agree SO F ell upon this point. ThA the friends and Adherents of Mr. PAULL, that those who call themselves the Whig Party', should abuse the Marquis W.ceees' LEY, is by no means surprising ; ,but that the irieds of Lord GRENVILLE should attack the character, alla decry the talents of the Marquis W eeeEse , Y, to US quite- inexplicable. 'flie tad i they am ' el much disappointed, and very angry, a . d it would' perhaps, be too much o expe[e. 11011, men in Web state eitiAr consistency or politeness,